A Table for Two
by bittersweeteverything
Summary: A hailed hero and a forgotten prince. A charity ball and one invitation. A changed person wanting to be accepted by others. Two people finding love where they least expected...a Dramione fanfic :D
1. Chapter 1

The muffled cry of pain caught his attention. His head snapped up from his book and his glanced to where the noise had come from. A look of worry passed his grey eyes as he saw her nursing her finger and gingerly putting it under some running water. He suddenly felt the urge to move up and comfort her, but common sense eventually won. Just because they lived together and spent half their school days together didn't mean that they had to be friends. Instead, with his characteristic smirk, he casually commented, "I thought perfect Miss Granger would know how to handle an oven…obviously I was mistaken." With that hanging in the air, he picked up his book and sauntered up the stairs to his room.

_"__I thought perfect Miss Granger would know how to handle an oven…obviously I was mistaken." _Those words hurt her but she wouldn't let them show, at least not while he was there. As soon as she heard the door closing, she leaned against the kitchen bench and stared out the window. Though there was a throbbing pain in her hand, her thoughts kept going back to a certain boy. They had known each other since the start of their years at school and they seemed to have had a mutual agreement to be sworn enemies. That went on for a few years…until the war.

The war had revealed many things to her and one of them had been his true identity. During school, she had always thought of him as arrogant, selfish and spoilt rotten to the core. As they fought side-by-side, she slowly came to realise there was more to him then his mask of arrogance. He had shown her that he had a humane heart and that if she searched deep enough, she would find the real Draco Malfoy.

They had returned to school after Voldemort had been defeated. Harry was hailed a hero for his bravery during the war. Hermione was acknowledged for her wisdom and courage. Everyone seemed to be getting some sort of credit for the downfall of the Dark Lord. Everyone…except for Draco. He was left out, in the shadows, gaunt and hollow faced. She had often tried to mention the role that he had played but it was always eventually drowned out. After a while, she had stopped trying and he slowly disappeared into the darkness. That was until Professor McGonagall announced that the Head Girl and Boy would be Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. They had politely exchanged glances as the school cheered them on. Nothing else had happened between the pair except for the occasional conversations and the seeming endless arguments. But why did his name refuse to leave her mind?

A low creak of the wooden door caused her to look up the stone staircase. There he stood, casually leaning against the frame of the door, running a hand through his blonde hair. She noticed that it had grown longer and that it fell just above his piercing grey eyes and framed his angular face. Mentally scolding herself for…noticing that, Hermione peered into the shadows to see why the Slytherine Prince, Head Boy Draco Malfoy 'graced her with his presence'. Almost as if he had read her mind, he made his way down the steps. She watched him from her position in the kitchen.

After thinking about what had happened, Draco decided to go down to Hermione and apologise. He knew that she had been hurt by his cruel words and he had instantly felt guilty as soon as the words left his mouth. Hermione…that name brought a tsunami of thoughts and emotions that it sometimes got too much to handle. Irritation, anger, guilt, shame and more recently friendship.

In the months when people seemed to forget about him, she was there offering to help him out with his work and Head Boy duties. He had bluntly refused her, saying that she already had enough to do and that she didn't need to stick her bushy head in other people's business. However, from that day on, he felt something that he had yearned for so much of his childhood. He felt that someone cared about him. She had seen through his unfeeling mask and found the real Draco. She didn't know it yet but those acts of kindness had sparked something in him. He was willing to try and become a better person and to get to know this bushy-haired, know-it-all, miss-goody-two-shoes Hermione Granger better.

When he stepped out of his room, he saw her, leaning against the kitchen bench, a wistful smile playing on her lips. She was still awkwardly holding her hand at her side, careful to keep it away from touching anything. Her warm hazel gaze was directed his way and he could see that her head was slightly tilted to the side, almost as if she was asking "What are you doing now?" He made his way down, careful to avoid the searching eyes of Granger. Walking up to her, he felt his hands beginning to sweat and thought to himself 'Why am I sweating? This is nothing special…'

He looked up at her face and saw a look of surprise. Her lips were slightly parted and her brown eyes were wide open. Looking at her hand, Draco winced as he saw a painful burn on one of her fingers. As he stood in front of her, he ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. This was going to be difficult but he had to do it anyway. She deserved an apology, after all she had done to go out of the way and try to be considerate of him. "Uhhh…I'm sorry about what I said before…I didn't realise that you'd hurt yourself that badly," he mumbled. He could feel his normally pale face burning up. With that he turned around and briskly made his way up back to his room.

_ "__Uhhh…I'm sorry about what I said before…I didn't realise that you'd hurt yourself that badly,"_

Hermione gasped. Was _THE _Draco Malfoy actually voluntarily apologising to her? This could not be happening. He was the pureblood, good-for-nothing jerk who had always pushed her away for being a…muggle-born. Now he decide to apologise for saying something that he would normally say? Confused at what had just happened, she walked out of the Heads Tower and made her way to the Gryffindor Common Room. Maybe there she would be able to talk to Ginny about what had happened.

Draco locked the door and collapsed onto his luxuriously made bed. Calming himself down, he played the scene over and over again in his mind. As soon as he said the words, Hermione had let out a quiet gasp of surprise and seemed to be lost for words. She had brought her hand up to her mouth, realising what she had done. She had looked so innocent and young, far from the Hermione had had seen during the war. Suddenly, he felt a strong urge to hex the people who had taken her childhood away from her so fast. She deserved to be a normal teenager, a normal girl. She didn't deserve to wake up in the middle of the night, screaming from nightmares about what had happened during the war.

It pained him to realise that her most traumatic memory, the one she would always wake up screaming about was one that he could easily have prevented. During the night, he would her crying out "I didn't take it, I swear I didn't. I don't know what you're talking about!" These words chilled him right down to the core. He had heard those exact words being screamed over and over again and he felt ashamed because he could do nothing to take them away from her.

Malfoy Manor once echoed with those words, accompanied by a woman's maniacal laughter. He had watched the scene unfold, right before his very eyes but he was too cowardly, too afraid to have done anything about it. Hermione had glanced at him, begging him to help her, to save her from Bellatrix. Draco had avoided her looks and blocked out the pained cries and screams coming from her mouth. That night, he had cried himself to sleep, tears of shame running down his gaunt face, images of the girl writhing on the floor burned into his mind.

Now, he could feel the same tears burning down his cheeks and felt responsible for the pain and suffering that she had to go through. He vowed to never have anyone hurt her so much. With that, he walked out of the Heads Tower and headed outside, heading for the willow trees by the lake. He wanted some time to himself, to think about what he could do for a certain, brown-haired girl.

She wandered towards the Gryffindor Tower. She realised with a pang of guilt that she hadn't visited as often as she promised. Ever since she had become Head Girl, she had moved into the Heads Tower with Draco Malfoy. This had meant that she left behind her dear friends from Gryffindor. They had promised each other that they would visit, but with the mounds of homework given by the teachers, it was sometimes impossible to even find time to talk to her friends. Nevertheless, she was still close with Ginny and often consulted her about 'other dilemmas'. Ginny was a year younger than Hermione, but she had her fair share of boyfriends and seemed to know best when it came to guys.

As she passed the heavy oaks doors of the Entrance Hall, she felt the warm spring breeze, slipping in through the gap between the wood and the stone floor. Wanting to feel the warmth, she opened the doors and headed outside. "The lake looks rather peaceful and the willow trees are always the best to sit under…" Hermione muttered to herself as she strolled across the newly mown lawn.

"HERMIONE!"

The excited cry brought Hermione's mind back to reality. Recognising Ginny's voice, Hermione smiled and turned to the direction the voice had come from. A flash of ginger hair was the only warning she got, as Hermione was tackled by her best friend. They both collapsed onto the grass and Hermione playfully shoved the younger girl off her. Dusting themselves off, they got to their feet and walked off towards the willows by the lake as they chatted about everything, from the recent school gossip to the food at last night's dinner.

_"__HERMIONE!"_

Draco opened his eyes at the sound of her name. He recognised Ginny Weasley's high pitched voice and groaned inwardly. He had never taken a liking to any of the Weasleys and Ginny Weasley only brought back memories of his second year at Hogwarts. He glanced up to where the voice had come from and saw the fiery red hair of Ginny Weasley streaming towards Hermione. From where he was sitting by the willows, Draco could see Hermione's face light up at the sight of her friend. He saw Ginny flying a tackle at her and they both collapsed onto the grass. Draco held in a chuckle as the two girls roll around on the school lawn. He had never known Hermione to be a 'roll-around-in-the-grass' person but he had come to realise that Hermione wasn't always uptight and 'McGonagall-like'.

"Hey Malfoy, what are you looking at?"

Ron Waesley's voice broke through his thoughts and Draco instinctively put on his emotionless mask. He turned to face Ron Weasley and Harry Potter, making his way towards him. Many people had decided to ignore Draco Malfoy after the war but these two had certainly not forgotten him. Ron especially hated him with a passion, something that Draco could not understand. He knew that Harry Potter might probably have a reason to hate him but he could not grasp why Ron absolutely detested him.

"What do you want Weasley?" Draco replied, sounding rather exasperated. He was not in a mood to argue with a stupid Weasel and the Boy-who-Lived. He wanted them to go away and ignore him like everyone else. The pair strolled their way right up to Draco. They stood towering over him, as he sat, leaning against the trunk of the tree. Ron spoke first, very much to Draco's surprise. He had always thought of Ron as the side-kick of the mighty Harry Potter…but maybe he was wrong…

"I said, what are you looking at ferret? I'm assuming that you were looking at my Hermione over there…or was it Ginny? I'm just going to tell you…bloody stay away from Hermione because she's mine and stay away from Ginny because she absolutely hates you!" Ron spat at Draco. The tips of his ears were turning a bright red and Draco after years of experience, had come to realise that it meant that Weasley was quite annoyed. He watched in amusement as Harry tugged him back. The Weasel wasn't finished yet…seeing Draco's composed expression, he seemed to lose his wits. He lunged at Draco unexpectedly, breaking out of Harry's grip. The fists came flying at Draco as he thought "This is a great day…"


	2. Chapter 2

As they neared the willows by the lake, Hermione saw the blonde head of Draco Malfoy resting against the trunk of one of the trees. She sighed softly to herself, "This is where he went to…" Looking further ahead, she saw the familiar bird's nest of Harry's head and the fiery red of Ron's head. They seemed to be heading in her direction and she slowed down, signalling to Ginny to slow down as well. Unexpectedly, they stopped by the blonde head of Draco Malfoy. Throwing a questioning glance at each other, the two girls made their way over to see what was going on.

Hermione's steps hastened as she heard Ron's angry shouting. She couldn't make out exactly what he was saying, but she knew that he would be able to find a reason to lash out at Draco. She had spent fruitless afternoons trying to convince Ron that Draco wasn't a 'spoilt, rich, bloody Death Eater'. It had never worked out and Ron had stubbornly held his beliefs about Draco. She could never understand why Ron refused to accept Draco's change of character. It was blindingly obvious to her and Harry seemed to have stopped hating him but Ron just refused to say one nice word about Draco. As she hurried to the willows, she could guarantee that Ron was shouting at Draco for being a Malfoy…

Another fist came hurtling at Draco's face and Draco didn't try to stop it. He let it collide with his bruised face once more and the taste of blood spread inside his mouth. He knew that he could easily stop Weasley's punches but he saw no point. Blocking him would probably further infuriate the little prick and Draco wasn't in the mood for a full out fight. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Potter, trying to stuff some sense into his thick friend and restraining him from lashing out at Draco. He grimaced as he felt the pain from the blows finally registering. By the pain in his nose, he guessed it to be broken and he could taste the blood from his lips. As he turned his head, his eyes met the hazel gaze of Hermione Granger. A sudden blush came over his bruised cheeks and he quickly snapped his head the other way, hoping to prevent the girl seeing his injuries. He knew it was too late when she let out an audible gasp and screamed at Weasley. A small smile crept over his lips as she started chiding Weasley for being a 'stupid, idiotic, troll who doesn't know how to use a brain.'

Parting the willow branches, she stepped towards the three boys. Draco's head turned around and their eyes met. A look of horror must have passed across her face, causing Draco to quickly turn his head back to its original position. Hermione suddenly felt a huge wave of anger come crashing over her. She whipped around to her two friends, Harry and Ron. She watched as Harry struggled to restrain a steaming Ron and instantly pieced together the events. Clearing her throat, she motioned for Harry to let Ron go. Ron dusted his arms off and stood in front of her, glaring out of the side of his eyes at Draco. This only fuelled her anger and she burst out at him, "How can you be so rude? What has he ever done to you? You are such a stupid, idiotic, troll who doesn't know how to use a brain. I don't even know why you can't get over it like everyone else has done!" She put as much venom into those last words and shoved the ginger hard in the shoulder. He didn't budge from his spot but his eyes showed the damage Hermione had caused. Tears threatened to spill over and Hermione rushed up towards the castle before anyone could see.

Watching from his position, Draco saw a look of hurt flash across Weasley's eyes as Hermione stormed off. Casting a hate-filled look at Draco, he had marched off with Potter trailing behind. Draco gingerly stood up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. It came away bloodied and he silently cursed the Weasley. With a deep sigh, he trudged off towards the castle, not sure of where he was going but wanting to find somewhere quiet to think.

Draco let his thoughts wander as his feet carried him up the worn stone steps. In his mind, he kept replaying the scene in his head…he could still see the way Hermione had looked as she stormed away, tears glistening in her eyes. He had felt a weird urge to wipe the tears away and tell her that it was going to be alright. He had wanted to hold her close and tell her that he would keep her safe…but he knew that he couldn't possibly do that to her. She obviously had feelings for Weasley and Draco would just be getting in the way. With a heavy heart, he continued up towards the towers.

She reached the Astronomy tower and collapsed on the stone steps. She let the tears fall as she hugged herself. She had tried to make everything better after the war, trying to get people to see that Draco Malfoy had changed for the better. Harry was fine but Ron just refused to accept the new Draco. It pained her to see her friends fighting and hurting each other. Why couldn't they just accept each other and stop giving her headaches?

Sighing, she fiddled with the sliver bracelet in her wrist. It was the only thing left from her parents. During the war, she had hidden her parents, away from the Dark Lord's reach. As a result, they didn't know about Hermione and lived blissfully unaware of the wizard world. Now, the only thing Hermione had left were her friends. She didn't want them to be separated among themselves. Trying to turn off her clustered mind, she closed her tired eyes and dozed off on the lonely steps.

He wondered up towards the Astronomy tower. Hopefully, no one was up there and Draco would be able to think about what happened. A shape on the steps made him pause. Peering closer, he realised with a jolt that it was Hermione. She looked so peaceful, sleeping with her head resting against her pulled-up knees. He considered waking her up, seeing that it was almost time for dinner, but her tranquil expression and her slow breathing stopped him right in his tracks. Instead, he summoned a blanket from the Head Room and wrapped it around the sleeping Hermione. With that, he left the Astronomy tower, fighting the urge to stay by her side.

At the dining hall, he sat alone at the Slytherin table. He preferred thing to sitting with the other, younger Slyterins. He could feel the glare of Weasley from across the dining hall, burning into his back. He didn't understand the hatred that Weasley seemed to have for him. Nothing explained it.


	3. Chapter 3

p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';"Chapter 3:/span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';"The silver moonlight pierced Hermione's dreams and woke her up from her sleep. She hadn't planned on falling asleep on the stairs, but the recent events had probably worn her out. Pulling the soft blanket around…"WAIT BLANKET?!" Hermione gasped. The blanket had definitely NOT been there with her when she came to the astronomy tower. "Someone must have come and put it here…Maybe it was one of the professors…What would they think, the Head Girl sleeping around the castle…" During that time, the blanket had slipped off her shoulders and she could feel the chill through her clothes. Silently thanking the mysterious person, she headed off towards the Heads Tower. span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';"~span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';""I just want to be friends. There's nothing more to it. Nothing more than friends. This is what a friend would do. That's why I'm doing this." Draco muttered to himself as he sat, slouched in the armchair by the crackling fire. He glanced towards the oak door to the Heads tower and towards the grandfather clock in the corner. She should be getting back by now…Draco thought to himself as his eyelids slowly drooped down. Within a few minutes, he was dozing in the armchair. span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';"~span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';"Hermione walked into the Heads Tower and gasped in surprise. There, by the fireplace, she saw Draco Malfoy dozing off. He looked so peaceful…his constant smirk replaced by something similar but so different…a slight smile. His blonde hair was slightly ruffled. A blanket, the exact same one she carried in her arms, was draped around his shoulders. Hermione realised with a jolt, "Draco Malfoy was the person who put that blanket around me at the Astronomy tower…" She wonder why the Head Boy of all people would do that for her. He had always seemed to have some sort of grudge against her and even though that had changed this year, she didn't really expect him to be so…kind to her. He was one question that she could not solve. She picked up a small piece of parchment from the table nearby and carefully wrote the words 'Thank You'. After folding the blanket in her arms, she placed in down on the table and left the small note on top. Shaking her head slightly, she headed towards her own room.span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';"The next morning, she woke to the sound of an owl, knocking against the window. With a sigh, she let the owl in and took the letter from its claws. She instantly recognised the seal of the Ministry of Magic and hesitated. Letters from the Ministry were never good, but she had no choice. Gingerly, she picked the envelop open and was surprised to find a decorative gold trim around a slip of parchment. She carefully prized out the letter within and read it over. From what she could gather, it was now 1 year since the downfall of the Dark Lord. She, Hermione Granger, was invited to a charity ball in 4 weeks' time and she was welcome to bring along a guest. She sighed. What was she going to do? Harry would probably be going with Ginny and Ron (the stubborn idiot) was out of the question.span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';"The majority of the grade seemed to have gotten the invitations and many, especially the girls, were making a big fuss over who was going to the ball with who. Her eyes scanned the room and spotted a blonde boy, sitting miserably in the corner of the Great Hall, his head stuck in a book. Hermione made her way over, ignoring Ron's sheepish wave and Harry's questioning look. She slid into the seat beside Draco tapped him gently on the shoulder. span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';"~ span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';"He knew she was there before she tapped him on the shoulder. He quickly pocketed the small piece of parchment in his hand and looked up. She was carrying one of those bloody invitations from the Ministry. The one that he didn't get. He knew it was childish to be upset at being excluded but it hurt to have everyone reminding him that he was different and could never be like them. Putting these thoughts aside, he raised his eyebrows as Hermione slid the invitation in front of him. "I wasn't sure who I wanted to go with and...I was…wondering if… you wanted to go to the ball with me…" Hermione stuttered, blushing a deep crimson. span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';"~span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';""I wasn't sure who I wanted to go with and...I was…wondering if… you wanted to go to the ball with me…" span/em/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';"The words slipped out of her mouth and she could do nothing to take them back. Hermione could feel her whole face burning up and hoped that no one could see her. "I only did it because I felt sorry for Draco. That's the only reason why I asked him." she muttered under her breath, trying to convince herself. "If you don't want to go, that's okay too but I just wanted to ask…" Hermione heard herself saying quickly as Draco looked at her. His lips turned upwards and she was given a small but genuine smile as he replied "Yes, Hermione. I'd love too." Before she could do anything stupid, she stood up and started to briskly walk off but a firm hand held her back. She saw Draco get up and she tried to step back. Instead he pulled her closer towards him and took a step, closing the gap between them. Hermione could feel the eyes of the other students boring into her back. A warm hand slowly tilted her face upwards as Draco brought his lips onto hers. span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';"~span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';"His lips pressed against hers and he could hear the collected gasp of the other students but he didn't care. All he could feel were her soft lips against his and her hand in his. He didn't care what the others thought. Draco knew he just had to do this. Gently he stepped back and looked into her eyes. There was surprise there but something else, a small spark of light behind the warm hazel. He let her hands go and she quickly ran out of the Hall, avoiding the looks of the other students.span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'ELEGANT TYPEWRITER';""WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" Ron shouted across the Hall, over the wolf whistles of the other students. A few of the girls started chattering and some of the boys sent him dirty looks. Draco felt that it was prime time for him to leave so he walked out of the Hall and back up to the Heads Tower. For the whole walk, he continuously replayed the kiss in his mind, trying to grab hold of every sensation that passed through his body. It had felt so right and Draco hoped that he wasn't the only one thinking that way. span/p  
>p class="MsoNormal" p 


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